Q & A with Luke Causby
When the Australian Book Designers Association formed in 2014, Luke Causby was one of very first designers to sign up. Luke is based in Sydney and founded his company Blue Cork in 2005. Did you mean to end up as a book designer? What was your trajectory? Growing up, I used to watch my Dad design […]
Mr Bingo in Australia
Mr Bingo has been described as ‘the Master of pens’, ‘the Justin Bieber of drawing’ and that ‘he f***s about for living’. He is well known for his Hate Mail project: the mailing of offensive postcards to strangers. At their request. What started out as a ‘drunk idea’ went on to be exhibited in galleries and gained […]
The Making of Hot Little Hands
A post by ABDA member Laura Thomas When I was initially briefed for the cover of Abigail Ulman’s excellent short story collection Hot Little Hands, the notes from the publisher included: “Girls meets Tales of the City – an utterly fresh, insightful and pitch-perfect set of tales about young women coming to terms with (or failing to […]
Q & A with Jess Gommers
To launch a new series of Q&As with Australian Book Designers Association members, we thought we’d start things off in a slightly contrarian way: by interviewing our one international member, New Zealand freelance designer Jess Gommers. Jess was senior designer at the National Gallery of Victoria from 2008 to 2011. Now based in Auckland, she has worked […]
The Colour of the Sky at Sunrise: A Book Designer on the Road
A post by ABDA member Phil Campbell As a book designer you spend a lot of time at your desk. You might get up for a coffee or a bite of lunch occasionally and sometimes your arm gets some exercise if you are scanning a stack of images or opening the exciting brown paper satchels […]
Dispatches Interviews Zoë Sadokierski
Dispatches is a podcast project by Californian-based documentary photographer Daniel Milnor. It aims to present an in-depth look at those living artistic lives. Each episode features photographs and audio interviews with “artistic pioneers who have devoted their lives to the arts”. The subject of the latest episode is writer, illustrator, lecturer and current Australian Book Designers Association […]
Book Designers at the Melbourne Writers Festival Schools’ Program
ABDA Committee Member Mark Campbell will be joined by Stephanie Spartels, designer of the award-winning Choose Your Own Ever After series, at Behind Book Covers – a session for secondary school students at the 2016 Melbourne Writers Festival. Mark and Stephanie will be discussing how they judge a good book cover and how covers are made. The session […]
Why We Need PIRs AKA Territorial Copyright
ABDA members Miri Rosenbloom and W.H. Chong defend Australian literature. For more info: How your job will be affected by abolishing PIRs bookscreateaustralia.com.au change.org petition
Romina Panetta Joins Allen & Unwin
Romina Panetta is the new Senior Cover Designer at Allen & Unwin, replacing Lisa White who left the company earlier this month to take up the role of Head of Design at HarperCollins. For the past seven years Romina worked at Harlequin where she predominately worked on commercial fiction titles, including rural romance, historical, crime and general fiction. […]
Will Abolishing Parallel Import Restrictions Destroy Your Job?
A post by ABDA member W.H. Chong (Disclaimer: all political conclusions are my own and do not represent ABDA.) PIR IN PLAIN ENGLISH The hottest topic in Australian book publishing is territorial copyright (aka ‘parallel import restrictions’, or PIR). Since 1991, when territorial copyright was put in place, Australia has punched way above its […]
Shortlist Announced for New Zealand’s Book Design Awards
The shortlist for the 2016 Publishers Association of New Zealand Book Design Awards has been announced. The entries were judged in seven categories: Penguin Random House New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book Upstart Press Award for Best Non-illustrated Book Edify Award for Best Educational Book Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children’s Book Mary Egan Publishing […]
Lisa White Joins HarperCollins
The role of Head of Design at HarperCollins Publishers has been taken up by Lisa White, who joined the company this week. Lisa said she was “really looking forward the challenge of the new role and hopes she can live up to the legacy of great work (her predecessor) has created over the years,” adding […]